Christianity

Size

Christianity has ~2.3–2.4 billion adherents, the largest religious family on earth. ACADEMIC SOURCE · Pew, World Religion Database

Who's in charge

No one leads Christianity as a whole. The largest single office is the Bishop of Rome (the pope), who leads 1.4 billion Catholics; it is held by Leo XIV (Robert Francis Prevost), elected in May 2025 after the death of Francis.

Chosen by

A conclave of cardinals, every one appointed by a previous pope.

Removable by

No body on earth. Canon law contains no removal procedure for a pope.

Money in one line

The money comes from tithes and offerings (often taught as 10% pre-tax), building campaigns, missions funds, book and media sales, and school tuition.

Leaving in one line

Leaving can cost a person their community and social network and strain their family, and in high-control congregations it can bring formal shunning or 'church discipline' (a formal process of censure that can end in expulsion) announcements.

Evidence

Four of the 30 techniques are sourced to a named document. The grades are Taught 15, Cultural 11, Documented 3 and Codified 1.

The unanswered question

The largest charitable sector legally exempt from public accounts mostly does not file voluntarily. What, exactly, would disclosure cost — and to whom?

Disclosure scorecard

• P
  Accounts publishedPartial
• N
  Leaders' payNo
• P
  Safeguarding policyPartial
• P
  Police firstPartial
• P
  Removal procedurePartial
• P
  Replies on recordPartial

Y Yes — established from a public source · P Partial — true of some parts of the tradition, or true in some jurisdictions · N No — not established from any public source · ? Not assessable — no institutional apex exists to assess

Dana · A Tuesday in October · A suburb of a mid-sized American city

She wakes at 4:52 without the alarm, which has been happening for about a year now. Nine minutes of lying still, then the thought arrives that she should be using this time to pray, and then the second thought, that noticing she should be praying instead of praying is its own kind of failure. She gets up.

The tithe envelope is on the counter where she left it Sunday. Two hundred and forty dollars, which is ten percent, which is also the car insurance. She has done this arithmetic four times and it comes out the same way each time. Pastor Rick preached on Malachi (the Old Testament book that calls withholding the tithe robbing God) three weeks ago — will a man rob God — and she remembers the particular way the room went quiet. She puts the envelope in her purse.

At 7:15 she texts her small-group leader (the church member who leads her weekly home Bible-study group) that she is doing fine. She is not doing fine. But Marla will pray about it, and Marla will mention it to Denise, and Denise's husband is on the elder board (the lay leaders who govern the church), and Dana has watched what happens to a woman in this church who becomes someone people are concerned about.

Lunch. She eats in her car so she can read something on her phone that she would not open at her desk — an article about a church in another state, a pastor, a settlement, non-disclosure agreements. Her chest does something. She closes it. On the drive back she prays for the woman in the article and then, without deciding to, prays for forgiveness for reading it.

Her daughter Emma is eleven and asks at dinner whether Grandpa Ray is in hell. Ray drank and did not believe in anything and died in March. Dana hears herself say that God is merciful and that we leave those things with Him. Emma says okay in the voice that means she has understood that the answer is yes and that asking again is not permitted. Dana lies awake later replaying it.

At 9:40 her husband asks whether the insurance went through. She says she is handling it. He nods, because she does handle it, and because they do not talk about the envelope. She puts her phone on the nightstand face down and lies in the dark thinking that she is tired in a way that sleep does not seem to reach, and that this is probably a spiritual problem, and that she should be praying about it.

The unanswered question

The widest gap between word and record

One cost of leaving, beside its denial

The strongest objection, answered

The objection. You are generalizing from two billion people and thousands of denominations.

What is true in it. It is a fair charge. There is no single Christian institution, and a Quaker meeting, a Coptic parish, and a Texas megachurch have almost nothing structurally in common. Any claim that treats them as one body is wrong.

The answer. So this profile names structures rather than the faith: the independent church with a founder-appointed board, the disclosure exemption, the specific policy. Where a claim applies only to some branches it says so, and the health section names the congregations that pass. If a sentence here reads as a claim about all Christians, it is a defect.

Healthy practice here looks like congregations that publish their budgets, have independent boards and term-limited leadership, and report abuse to outside authorities.

Some denominations have commissioned independent abuse investigations and published them. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) commissioned the 2022 report by Guidepost Solutions, an independent investigations firm, under pressure from its members, and the report was published 8. INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

The tradition has its own history of dissent from within: the abolitionists, the Confessing Church (German Protestants who resisted Nazi control of the churches) and the sanctuary movements.

Some of that standard is already on the record. Evangelical journalists at Christianity Today reported in depth on the collapse of Mars Hill, a church in their own movement 11, and MinistryWatch, an evangelical watchdog, has rated ministries on donor transparency since 1998 10. Each is a place where members of the tradition met the standard this page applies, and each is recorded here as credit.

Christianity began in 1st-century Roman Judea as the Jesus movement within Second Temple Judaism (the Judaism of the period before the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed in 70 CE). Its scriptures and creeds took shape across the 2nd–4th centuries. Under Constantine and Theodosius (4th c.) it became the Roman imperial religion, fusing spiritual and state authority at imperial scale.

Timeline

1. c. 30–33 CEThe Jesus movement begins in Roman JudeaA spiritual claim exists with no institution, no clergy, and no treasury.
2. c. 33–70 CEApostolic mission across the Mediterranean; house churchesGrowth requires coordination — the first authority disputes appear (Acts 15, Galatians).
3. c. 50–120 CELetters and gospels written and circulatedTexts become the reference point; whoever interprets them acquires leverage.
4. c. 100–250 CEBishops, presbyters (elders, the office that became the priesthood), and deacons formalize; persecution episodesLeadership becomes an office rather than a charisma — offices outlive people.
5. 313–380 CEConstantine's toleration; Theodosius makes Christianity the imperial religionThe single most consequential event in this codex: spiritual authority fuses with state coercion.
6. 325–787 CEEcumenical councils (councils of bishops from across the church, called to settle doctrine) define creed and canonBelief becomes standardized and dissent becomes prosecutable heresy.
7. 1054 / 1517East–West Schism; Protestant ReformationAuthority disputes become permanent institutional divisions.
8. 1500s–1900sColonial-era missions worldwideThe faith spreads bound to empire, trade, and land seizure.
9. 1900sPentecostalism, radio and television ministry, the megachurchCharisma scales; a single leader can now reach millions with no bishop above him.
10. 1980s–presentGlobal abuse revelations, financial scandals, Global South majorityChristianity's center of gravity moves south while Northern institutions face reckoning.

Moments in the room

The main branches are Catholic (~1.4B), Protestant and Evangelical (~800M, up to 1B on wider definitions) and Orthodox (~260M, Eastern and Oriental together), plus Restorationist (movements that aim to restore what they see as the church of the apostles) and independent movements.

Christians number about 2.3 billion (2020), the largest religious family on earth 13.

Size and shape

Authority

• Authority varies by branch. It may sit with episcopal hierarchies (governed by bishops), presbyterian councils (governed by elected elders), congregational votes, or unaccountable founder-pastors.
• In practice, authority concentrates wherever one office controls doctrine, membership, discipline, and money simultaneously — the highest-risk configuration is the independent church with a founder who answers to a board he appointed.
• The gatekeeping powers are baptism, communion, membership standing, marriage officiation, burial, and the label 'in good standing.'

The top of the chain

Who holds what

Who can compel an answer

State charity regulators and attorneys general in the U.S. can compel an answer, as can the Charity Commission for England and Wales and civil safeguarding authorities. Congregational polity (government of each church by its own members) means the civil bodies are usually the only bodies — there is no bishop to appeal to, so the regulator is the appeal.

Where it comes from

• The money comes from tithes and offerings (often taught as 10% pre-tax), building campaigns, missions funds, book and media sales, and school tuition.
• In the U.S., churches are automatically tax-exempt and — unlike almost every other US charity — exempt from filing public Form 990 disclosures. OFFICIAL POLICY · IRS §501(c)(3), §6033 church exemption
• Clergy housing allowances are excludable from taxable income. OFFICIAL POLICY · IRC §107 parsonage allowance
• The structural result is a charitable sector with among the least financial transparency in American law.

Follow the money

Pipelines this tradition shares

Money in numbers

• Money abroad: Between 2007 and 2018, 28 US Christian-right groups spent at least $280m outside the US 9.
• What the US does not publish: Churches are not required to file a Form 990, so no national total of church income exists 12. MinistryWatch rates US ministries on donor transparency 10.

Information

• Warnings against 'false teachers,' 'worldly wisdom,' secular psychology, and critical biblical scholarship route members' information through approved teachers. PATTERN OBSERVED
• In high-control congregations, former members and critics are pre-labeled bitter, deceived, or spiritually attacked — inoculating the community against their testimony before it is heard. PATTERN OBSERVED
• Church-run schools and curricula in some contexts restrict science, history, and sexuality education, narrowing what members can even formulate as a question.

Children

• Infant baptism or infant dedication (a service presenting a baby to God, used where infants are not baptized) attaches identity before any capacity to consent. Confirmation and 'age of accountability' (the age at which a child is held answerable to God) altar calls (invitations to come forward during a service and make a public commitment) arrive during childhood.
• Hell teaching directed at children is the most consequential mechanism in this list: fear of eternal punishment installed before abstract reasoning develops is not a belief a child chose. PATTERN OBSERVED
• Youth groups, camps, purity pledges (promises to abstain from sex until marriage), and 'accountability partners' (peers assigned to monitor each other's conduct) create early sexual surveillance; children in some traditions confess to adults who hold community authority over their families.

Bodies

• Complementarian teaching (male headship, wifely submission) is doctrine in large swaths of the tradition; where it governs marriage, it removes a woman's structural standing to refuse. OFFICIAL POLICY · denominational statements
• Purity culture (teaching that made sexual abstinence before marriage a central measure of faithfulness) attached shame to female bodies specifically, then offered the institution as the remedy for the shame it created. ACADEMIC SOURCE / FORMER MEMBER TESTIMONY
• LGBTQ members face exclusion from membership, leadership, or marriage in most conservative bodies; conversion therapy practices have been widely documented and are now restricted in many jurisdictions — though in the US the Supreme Court held in 2026 (Chiles v. Salazar) that bans on conversion talk therapy face strict First Amendment scrutiny, and sent the case back to the lower courts 4. GOVERNMENT REPORT / INVESTIGATIVE REPORT
• Abuse handling: forgiveness pressure, internal 'church discipline' instead of police reporting, and mandatory-reporting failures are documented across denominations. COURT RECORD / GOVERNMENT REPORT

Thirty named techniques from domestic-abuse and social-psychology research, applied to institutions, in the eight stages of the cycle. Each carries an evidence grade for this tradition.

All thirty at a glance

Stage 1 · Idealize

Stage 2 · Hook

Stage 3 · Devalue

Stage 4 · Confuse

Stage 5 · Isolate

Stage 6 · Extract

Stage 7 · Discard

Stage 8 · Replace

What they say, what the record shows

Accountability or theatre?

Last time the chair ran. At Mars Hill, Willow Creek and RZIM the founders were gone by resignation, retirement or death, and the same architecture was left intact each time.

Who holds the chair now. Founder-pastors of independent churches hold it, with boards they appointed and no denomination above them.

Prediction. This is a prediction, not a documented finding: the next one will probably be exposed by journalists rather than elders, the church may rebrand, and the man may be preaching somewhere again within three years.

Words used here

What leaving costs

• Leaving can cost a person their community and social network and strain their family, and in high-control congregations it can bring formal shunning or 'church discipline' announcements.
• People can lose their jobs where employment runs through the church network (staff, schools, ministries).
• Leaving is framed as a spiritual threat: hell, apostasy (abandoning the faith), 'shipwrecked faith' (a phrase from 1 Timothy 1:19 for faith that has been lost). VARIES BY COMMUNITY

The ledger of exit

How the cost is denied

Who benefits

• Senior and founding pastors of independent churches benefit when they control the board that sets their compensation. PATTERN OBSERVED
• Denominational headquarters and agencies funded by assessments on congregations benefit.
• The Christian media-industrial complex benefits: broadcasting networks, publishing houses, worship-music licensing and conference circuits. These revenue streams require a continuously mobilized, guilt-motivated audience. PATTERN OBSERVED
• Political operations benefit, converting congregational trust into votes and donor lists. PATTERN OBSERVED

Money out, leverage back

• American conservative Christian organizations have funded legal and legislative campaigns against LGBTQ rights and reproductive access in African, Eastern European, and Latin American countries — exporting policy through local partners while framing the work as family support. Aid arrives, and with it, a legislative agenda the recipient population never voted on. INVESTIGATIVE REPORT · openDemocracy, 2020 — 28 US groups, at least $280m spent abroad, 2007–2018
• Faith-based aid and development organizations hold major humanitarian contracts. The genuine relief work is real. So is the fact that access to food, schooling, and clinics in some contexts arrives inside a religious framework recipients cannot refuse without losing the service. ACADEMIC SOURCE
• The tax exemption is the quiet subsidy: churches receive full charitable status while exempt from the public financial disclosure almost every other charity files. The public funds the exemption; the public — including members — is denied the accounting. OFFICIAL POLICY

Who pays

• Children pay, absorbing hell teaching and purity shame with no ability to consent or evaluate.
• Women in complementarian marriages pay, losing structural standing to refuse or leave.
• LGBTQ members pay in family, belonging and, in documented cases, their safety.
• Abuse survivors pay, pressured into forgiveness and internal process rather than police.
• Poor members pay, tithing from insufficient income while leadership is salaried.
• Volunteers pay with unpaid hours that build assets they will never have equity in.

Where the weight lands

The costs in section 15 do not fall evenly. They fall hardest where a person has the least power inside the institution and the fewest places to go outside it. The table names who carries the most, how, and what makes it worse.

Most of the institution's work is done below the pastor, by people who see the decisions without making them. Small-group leaders, treasurers, youth and children's workers, and elders each carry part of the load, and each stands at one point where the next decision could be declined. The table sets out what each tier does, what it sees, what it is asked to do and where it could refuse.

It has been broken before

What would change this page

Voluntary, audited, member-facing public accounts by the major U.S. denominations — adopted without a change in the law — would revise this page's financial-opacity findings at their root.

• Rachael Denhollander. An abuse survivor and lawyer, she advised the Southern Baptist task force behind the 2022 investigation. In December 2025 Baptist News Global reported allegations of conflicting roles in that work, which she denies 1920.
• The survivors of John Smyth. Their persistence produced the Makin Review 6.
• MinistryWatch. An evangelical watchdog, it has rated ministries on transparency since 1998 10.
• The reporters of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. Evangelical journalists at Christianity Today reported in depth on the collapse of a church in their own movement 11.
• Christa Brown. A Baptist abuse survivor, author and retired attorney who for nearly twenty years pressed Southern Baptist leaders to act on clergy abuse, and met resistance and hostility from some on the Executive Committee, as the Guidepost report records 839.

In closing

Here is what you were never told: a truth that is actually true does not need your ignorance to survive. If the resurrection happened, it happened whether or not you read the church's financial statements. So the refusal to show you the books cannot be about protecting your faith. It is about protecting something else, and you are permitted to ask what.

You are not being asked to stop praying. You are being asked to stop conflating God with the office that claims to represent Him — because that conflation is not your theology. It was installed, deliberately, by people whose position depends on you never separating the two.

This is practical guidance, not legal advice.

1. Leaving is legally free almost everywhere Christians live; the costs are social, family and sometimes economic (church schools, church employers).
2. In Germany, leaving is a formal civil declaration that ends church tax 18.
3. If you were abused, go to the police or child-protection services first, not the church.
4. Find support that is not run by a church 212223.

Checked 2026-09-27.

Law and official records

1. US Internal Revenue Service, Publication 1828: Tax Guide for Churches & Religious Organizations — churches are exempt without applying (IRC §508(c)(1)(A)) and are not required to file an annual information return (IRC §6033(a)(3)(A)(i)); the parsonage exclusion (IRC §107). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p1828.pdf
2. 26 U.S. Code §6033 — returns by exempt organizations; the mandatory exceptions for churches, their integrated auxiliaries and conventions of churches. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/6033
3. Gaylor v. Mnuchin, 919 F.3d 420 (7th Cir. 2019) — the §107 parsonage allowance upheld (National Law Review summary). https://natlawreview.com/article/parsonage-exclusion-found-seventh-circuit-to-be-constitutional
4. Chiles v. Salazar, 607 U.S. ___ (31 Mar 2026) — the US Supreme Court (8–1) held that Colorado's ban on conversion talk therapy is viewpoint discrimination subject to strict scrutiny. The Court did not strike the law down; it remanded the case to the lower courts (America, 31 Mar 2026: https://www.americamagazine.org/news/2026/03/31/colorado-conversion-therapy-supreme-court/). https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/607/24-539/
5. Code of Canon Law, can. 1404 — "The First See is judged by no one." https://www.vatican.va/archive/cod-iuris-canonici/eng/documents/cic_lib7-cann1400-1500_en.html
6. Church of England — Makin Review into the John Smyth abuse (Nov 2024), and Justin Welby's resignation statement of 12 Nov 2024 — Vatican News report. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/church/news/2024-11/archbishop-justin-welby-resignation-sex-abuse-report.html
7. Episcopal News Service, "Sarah Mullally confirmed as 106th archbishop of Canterbury" (28 Jan 2026); installed at Canterbury Cathedral 25 Mar 2026. https://episcopalnewsservice.org/2026/01/28/sarah-mullally-confirmed-as-106th-archbishop-of-canterbury/

Investigations and accountability reporting

8. Guidepost Solutions, Report of the Independent Investigation — The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee's Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations (22 May 2022). https://guidepostsolutions.com/insights/media-mentions/guidepost-solutions-report-of-the-independent-investigation-of-the-southern-baptist-convention/
9. openDemocracy, "Revealed: $280m 'dark money' spent by US Christian Right groups globally" (Oct 2020) — 28 US groups, at least $280m spent outside the US, 2007–2018; Europe ~$90m, then Africa and Asia. https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/trump-us-christian-spending-global-revealed/
10. MinistryWatch — donor-transparency ratings of US ministries, founded 1998. https://ministrywatch.com/leadership-team/
11. Christianity Today, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill (podcast and reporting, 2021). https://www.christianitytoday.com/podcasts/the-rise-and-fall-of-mars-hill/
12. RZIM board-commissioned investigation by Miller & Martin (Feb 2021), and the Willow Creek Independent Advisory Group report (Feb 2019) — summarized by Christianity Today. https://www.christianitytoday.com/news/2021/february/ravi-zacharias-rzim-investigation-sexual-abuse-sexting-rape.html

Demography and history

13. Pew Research Center, How the Global Religious Landscape Changed From 2010 to 2020 (2025) — 2.3 billion Christians in 2020. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2025/06/09/how-the-global-religious-landscape-changed-from-2010-to-2020/
14. Vatican, Annuarium Statisticum Ecclesiae 2023 (published 2025) — 1.406 billion baptized Catholics. https://www.vaticannews.va/en/vatican-city/news/2025-03/pontifical-yearbook-2025-priests-religious-statistics.html
15. Pew Research Center, Orthodox Christianity in the 21st Century (2017) — ~260 million Orthodox Christians. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2017/11/08/orthodox-christianity-in-the-21st-century/
16. Encyclopaedia Britannica, "Christianity" — chronology (Constantine's toleration 313; Theodosius' edict of 380; the seven councils 325–787; 1054; 1517). https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity

Further sources

17. House of Lords Library, "Lords spiritual in the House of Lords explained" (26 bishops of the established church). https://lordslibrary.parliament.uk/lords-spiritual-in-the-house-of-lords-explained/
18. katholisch.de, "6,09 Milliarden – Mehr Kirchensteuern für Evangelische Kirche 2025", and "Deutsche Bischofskonferenz veröffentlicht neue Kirchensteuer-Zahlen" (Catholic €6.75bn; total €12.84bn). https://katholisch.de/artikel/68672-609-milliarden-mehr-kirchensteuern-fuer-evangelische-kirche-2025 · https://katholisch.de/artikel/69365-deutsche-bischofskonferenz-veroeffentlicht-neue-kirchensteuer-zahlen
19. Christianity Today, "Southern Baptists Refused to Act on Abuse, Despite Secret List of Pastors" (May 2022). https://www.christianitytoday.com/2022/05/southern-baptist-abuse-investigation-sbc-ec-legal-survivors/
20. Baptist News Global, "Conflicts of interest and 'dual roles' undermined SBC abuse investigation" (16 Dec 2025) — allegations of dual roles in the investigation; Denhollander denies them. https://baptistnews.com/article/conflicts-of-interest-and-dual-roles-undermined-sbc-abuse-investigation/
21. Recovering from Religion — helpline (844) 368-2848. https://www.recoveringfromreligion.org/
22. Humanists UK, Faith to Faithless helpline — helpline 0800 448 0748 (freephone; Monday 10:00–13:00, Wednesday 10:00–13:00, Thursday 16:00–19:00 UK time). https://humanists.uk/faith-to-faithless/helpline/
23. International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA). https://internationalculticstudies.org/
24. SNAP — Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. https://www.snapnetwork.org/
25. NAPAC — support line 0808 801 0331. https://napac.org.uk/calling-our-support-line/
26. Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline — 1-800-422-4453. https://childhelphotline.org/
27. RAINN — National Sexual Assault Hotline, 1-800-656-4673. https://rainn.org/learn-about-rainn/contact-us/
28. 26 U.S. Code §7611 — church tax inquiries and examinations: a restricted procedure the IRS must follow before it examines a church. https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/7611
29. Martin Luther, Ninety-Five Theses (1517) — thesis 1 (repentance); theses 81–91 (the laity's questions); thesis 86 (the pope, "the richest Crassus"). https://www.luther.de/en/95thesen.html
30. Psalm 105:12–15 ("Touch not my anointed ones", of the patriarchs) and 1 Samuel 24:6, 26:9 (David and "the Lord's anointed"). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+105%3A12-15%3B+1+Samuel+24%3A6&version=NRSV
31. Deuteronomy 14:22–29 — the tithe, which may be turned into silver (vv. 24–26) and which supports the Levite (v. 27). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+14%3A22-29&version=NRSV
32. The household codes: Colossians 3:18–4:1; Ephesians 5:22–6:9; 1 Peter 2:18–3:7. https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A18-4%3A1&version=NRSV
33. Augustine of Hippo, The City of God, book 21 — the eternal punishment of the damned. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/120121.htm
34. Internal Revenue Service, A History of the Tax-Exempt Sector: An SOI Perspective, Statistics of Income Bulletin (Winter 2008) — the Revenue Act of 1943 and the first Form 990 (religious organizations exempt); the Tax Reform Act of 1969 (filing expanded; churches and their integrated auxiliaries not subject to it). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-soi/tehistory.pdf
35. Pew Research Center, Global Christianity — Movements and Denominations (2011) — about 801 million Protestants; about 584 million Pentecostal and charismatic Christians, counted across all traditions. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-movements-and-denominations/
36. Christianity Today, "Mark Driscoll Resigns from Mars Hill" (Oct 2014) — the board of overseers' finding of arrogance, harsh speech and domineering leadership. https://www.christianitytoday.com/2014/10/mark-driscoll-resigns-from-mars-hill/
37. Christianity Today Pastors, "Mars Hill Elders' Public Confession" (2 Nov 2014) — Bent Meyer and Paul Petry were terminated on 30 Sept 2007, and the elders confessed they were wrong. https://www.christianitytoday.com/pastors/content/mars-hill-elders-public-confession-meyer-petry/
38. ABC News (Australia), "#ChurchToo: Christian victims of abuse join social media outpouring" (24 Nov 2017) — the hashtag started by Emily Joy and Hannah Paasch in November 2017. https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-24/church-too-christian-victims-of-abuse-join-social-media-twitter/9188666
39. Houston Chronicle, "An abuse survivor has tried to stop Southern Baptist predators, but leaders called her an 'evildoer'" (2022) — Christa Brown. https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/investigations/article/sbc-southern-baptist-sexual-abuse-christa-brown-17205214.php

• 2026-10-03: Corrected how the page describes the church exemption from public financial accounts: churches are the largest group excused from filing, not the only one, and the IRS can examine a church under a restricted procedure. Corrected the Crassus reference in Luther's thesis 86, named the Bible passages behind the genealogy cards, and removed claims they did not support. Aligned the Protestant, Pentecostal and Orthodox sizes with the family volumes. Regraded seven techniques and removed "sourced" from five that named no document, so the counts now read Taught 15, Cultural 11, Documented 3 and Codified 1. Dropped Hillsong from the list of founder collapses because the page documents no case, and recorded what the Mars Hill findings were. Added Rachael Denhollander's denial, the remand of Chiles v. Salazar, and the churches' own publication of German church-tax figures. Replaced the Archbishop of Canterbury entry in the voices section with Christa Brown, relabelled rows that had no source, and added sources 28 to 39.
• 2026-09-27: Checked against the sources and corrected: openDemocracy figures now cited; "uniquely among charities" softened; Catholics 1.4 billion; Chiles v. Salazar (2026) added; Mullally installed March 2026.
• 2026-09-27: Added Branches, Law & state, Money in numbers, four documented cases, Voices from inside, three regional cards, Leaving safely and Where to get help.